L.L. Bean to step up production of its iconic boot

1of 7Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks with a worker Thursday while visiting L.L. Bean's new manufacturing center in Lewiston, Maine. The company hopes to make 750,000 pairs of boots this year.Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

2of 7Steve Smith, president and CEO of L.L. Bean, attends a ceremony at the company's new plant in Lewiston, Maine, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The Maine-based retailer plans to expand production to keep up with demand for its leather-and-rubber Âduck bootÂ with a new manufacturing center being unveiled Thursday. The company hopes to make 750,000 pairs of boots this year, and to hit the 1 million mark in 2018. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

3of 7Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks with a worker Thursday while visiting L.L. Bean's new manufacturing center in Lewiston, Maine. The company hopes to make 750,000 pairs of boots this year.Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

4of 7U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, holds his personal L.L. Bean boot while speaking at an event at the new L.L. Bean manufacturing center in Lewiston, Maine, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The Maine-based retailer plans to expand production to keep up with demand for its leather-and-rubber Âduck bootÂ with a new manufacturing center being unveiled Thursday. The company hopes to make 750,000 pairs of boots this year, and to hit the 1 million mark in 2018. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

5of 7A worker runs the new molding machine used to make L.L. Bean's famous hunting shoe, at the company's new plant in Lewiston, Maine, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The Maine-based retailer plans to expand production to keep up with demand for its leather-and-rubber Âduck bootÂ with a new manufacturing center being unveiled Thursday. The company hopes to make 750,000 pairs of boots this year, and to hit the 1 million mark in 2018. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

6of 7A fashionable L.L. Bean boot is displayed at the company's new plant in Lewiston, Maine, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The Maine-based retailer plans to expand production to keep up with demand for its leather-and-rubber Âduck bootÂ with a new manufacturing center being unveiled Thursday. The company hopes to make 750,000 pairs of boots this year, and to hit the 1 million mark in 2018. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

7of 7FILE - In this March 16, 2016, file photo, shoppers exit the L.L. Bean retail store in Freeport, Maine. L.L. Bean hopes to give the boot to backlogs of its most iconic product. The Maine-based retailer is expanding production to keep up with demand for its leather-and-rubber Âduck bootÂ with a new manufacturing center thatÂs being unveiled Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The company also plans to hire more than 100 additional production workers at two locations in Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, STF

LEWISTON, Maine - L.L. Bean hopes to give the boot to backlogs of its most iconic product.

The Maine-based retailer is expanding production to keep up with demand for its leather-and-rubber "duck boot" with a new manufacturing center with another machine used to make the rubber soles. The company also plans to hire more than 100 more production workers at two locations in Maine.

"With the addition of the second molding machine here, we've significantly increased our capacity for Bean boot production," said Steve Smith, the company's president and CEO, told workers and guests Thursday.

The old boot has done more than soldier on: Annual sales have grown from fewer than 100,000 pairs a decade ago to this year's projection of 750,000 pairs. The company hopes to hit the 1 million mark next year.

The boots have been so popular that backlogs have been commonplace around the holiday shopping season, something that's going to change.

The 106,000-square-foot building doubles the production space in Lewiston, which is home to two of the company's three injection-molding machines used to make the rubber soles. The other molding machine is in Brunswick, where the leather uppers are stitched to complete the boots.

The new production center gives L.L. Bean flexibility for boot production to provide for "new innovations and designs that our customers are craving," Smith said. It also provides room to expand production of other products, as well.

All told, L.L. Bean plans to hire about 160 additional production workers, including about 40 in Lewiston, Maine's second-largest city, bringing the total to more than 700 workers, said Carolyn Beem, a company spokeswoman.

L.L. Bean's original "hunting shoe" was first designed and manufactured more than 100 years ago, and they're synonymous with the brand.

There's a giant boot outside the main store in Freeport, and there are two Bootmobiles rolling around North America. There's even a Bootmobile in Japan.

The "Made in the USA" label is rare in shoe-making these days. Well-known Maine brands like G.H. Bass, Sebago and Dexter are now made overseas. But L.L. Bean had made a decision to keep production of the boots in Maine.

"L.L. Bean manufacturing is both our history and our future. Unfortunately not too many companies can say that anymore," said company chairman Shawn Gorman, great-grandson of founder Leon Leonwood Bean.